The Art of Genes

How Organisms Make Themselves

Enrico Coen

How is a tiny fertilized egg able to turn itself into a human being? How can an acorn transform itself into an oak tree? Through a highly original synthesis of science and art, this book vividly describes the revolution in our understanding of how plants and animals develop. It draws on a wide range of examples and material--from flowers growing petals instead of sex organs, and flies that develop an extra pair of wings, to works by Leonardo and Magritte--to provide general readers with a lively and clear explanation of the meaning of genes. The book demonstrates that organisms develop through an interactive dialogue, with no clear separation between plan and execution, much as an artist might paint a picture.

The Art of Genes

How Organisms Make Themselves

Enrico Coen

Description

Over the past twenty years there has been a revolution in biology--for the first time scientists have been able to unravel the details of how organisms make themselves. The mechanisms by which a fertilized egg develops into an adult can now be grasped in a way that was unimaginable a few decades ago. The Art of Genes is the first account of these exciting new findings, and of their broader significance in how we view ourselves. Through a highly original synthesis of sciece and art, Enrico Coen vividly describes this revolution in our understanding of how plants and animals develop. Drawing on a wide range of material--from flowers growing petals instead of sex organs, and flies that develop an extra pair of wings, to works of art by Leonardo and Magritte--he explains in lively accessible prose the meaning of genes. Coen draws parallels between the way genes respond to the developing pattern of an organism and the way an artist responds to a painting being created on canvas, a memorable analogy that shows how the organism develops through an interactive dialogue in which there is no separation between plan and execution. There have been many attempts to resolve the paradox of how organisms make themselves. Lucid, authoritative, and entertaining, The Art of Genes offers fresh and exciting insights into the nature of evolution, development, and human creativity.

The Art of Genes

How Organisms Make Themselves

Enrico Coen

Table of Contents

Painting a pictureCopying and creatingA question of interpretationA case of mistaken identityThe internal world of colourEvolution of locks and keysThe hidden skeletonThe expanding canvasRefining a patternCreative reproductionScents and sensitivitiesResponding to the environmentElaborating on asymmetryBeneath the surfaceThemes and variationsShifting formsThe story of colourThe art of Heath RobinsonSources of quotationsBibliographyGlossaryFigure acknowledgementsIndex

The Art of Genes

How Organisms Make Themselves

Enrico Coen

Author Information

Enrico Coen is Professor in the Genetics Department at the John Innes Centre in Norwich.

The Art of Genes

How Organisms Make Themselves

Enrico Coen

Reviews and Awards

"It is arguable that the most important advance in biology in the past twenty years has been the revolution in our understanding of the mechanisms of development.... Developmental biology has been transformed from a field in which ingenious manipulative experiments generated speculations about unobservable underlying causes, such as gradients and prepatterns, to one in which we have a very detailed knowledge of what is actually going on at the molecular and cellular level. Enrico Coen has written a book that attempts, with considerable success, to convey the essence of this revolution to the lay reader. It will also be of great interest to those biologists...who have only a superficial knowledge of the subject."TREE